Manganese is widespread in Bergen County wells.
1 widespread, 1 worth checking, 2 rare out of 4 health checks.
From 16 wells tested in Bergen County since 2001; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: lead (5).
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
About 1 in 18 people 54,103 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Deep wells: fewer surface germs, more minerals from the rock.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Possible here. A home air test is inexpensive.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Bergen County compares with New Jersey and the counties around it.
Each result puts Bergen County next to the 7 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Bergen County wells.
Manganese2 of 12 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Too few tested to show: Bronx, NY, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Rockland, NY.
This one is worth checking in Bergen County.
Arsenic1 of 12 wells over
Too few tested to show: Bronx, NY, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Rockland, NY.
These 2 are rare in Bergen County.
Nitrate0 of 16 wells over
Too few tested to show: Bronx, NY, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Rockland, NY.
Fluoride0 of 12 wells over
Too few tested to show: Bronx, NY, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Rockland, NY.
Too few Bergen County wells were tested for this one.
Lead5 wells tested
Every well needs a bacteria test every year.
No bacteria tests from Bergen County wells are in the public data. Test every year anyway.
Iron reached staining levels in 1 of 12 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains1 of 12 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Bronx, NY, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Rockland, NY.
Most of the 16 wells tested in Bergen County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 16 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Bergen County wells in these records were tested for research or because someone suspected a problem, which can push the shares above what a typical home well would show (how we read the numbers).
One mail-in lab test covers the 4 things to check in Bergen County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What New Jersey offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of New Jersey. New Jersey's private well page
- Certified labsNew Jersey's list of certified labs
- Well recordsNew Jersey's well record search
- New wellsUnder the Private Well Testing Act (N.J.S.A. 58:12A-26 et seq.), every sale of property with a private potable well requires a water test before closing of title, and landlords must test at least every five years.
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 200 feet.
That comes from 482 wells in New Jersey's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 154 to 300 feet deep. Wells as deep as Bergen County's are usually better protected from fertilizer and bacteria at the surface, but they can pick up more of what's in the rock, like arsenic and uranium. Typical wells on record here go deeper than in 10 of the 19 other New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in New Jersey's well record search, or see how to find it.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Bergen County.
Bergen County is in the EPA's middle radon zone. An indoor air test is cheap and tells you whether to look at your water. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 19 town water systems in Bergen County test for PFAS. 18 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 31 ng/L of PFOA. Only 4 wells in Bergen County have public PFAS results, so the town systems are the best clue to what's in the groundwater nearby. PFAS guide
Radon zones: EPA Map of Radon Zones. PFAS: EPA tests of town water systems, 2023 to 2025
Questions people ask about well water in Bergen County
Is well water in Bergen County safe to drink?
2 of 12 wells tested in Bergen County had manganese over the limit, about 2 in 10. Across New Jersey it's about 1 in 8. That's a bigger share than in 12 of the 16 other New Jersey counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Bergen County?
Use a lab New Jersey has certified for drinking water. New Jersey's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Bergen County.
How deep are wells in Bergen County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 200 feet. Typical wells on record here go deeper than in 10 of the 19 other New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
How does Bergen County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: 2 of the 2 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Bergen County, at 17%. New York, NY had the most, at 68%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so New York, NY's 68% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Bergen County?
Bergen County has no public bacteria results for wells, so follow the CDC's advice: test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and right away after a flood, a repair, or any change in taste or smell.
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Where the Bergen County numbers come from
- People on wells: 54,103 in Bergen County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 186 well water samples from 16 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2001 to 2022.
- Well depths: 482 New Jersey drilling records for Bergen County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 7 counties that share a border with Bergen County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 19 town water systems in Bergen County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Bergen County is zone 2 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Protection, checked November 1, 2026.